nVidia has released details of the graphics chip that will power Sony's Playstation 3 and has revealed that it is the result of a joint effort with SCE.

nVidia provided a first look at the powerful graphics architecture of PS 3 during Sony's press conference. nVidia and SCE are jointly developing a new graphics processor for PS 3. Codenamed “RSX”, the new processor will connect directly to Cell, the advanced microprocessor developed by IBM, Sony Group, and Toshiba.

During the press conference, Mr Huang demonstrated examples of graphics breakthroughs that will be available to future PS 3 developers and end-users. His presentation included real-time demos created by nVidia as well as a new demo developed by Epic Games. The demos illustrate how RSX will enable new games to realise stunning immersive and interactive environments, compelling and believable characters, and experiences beyond what was previously thought possible.

RSX represents 1500 person-years of investment and when combined with Cell promises to provide an astounding two teraflops of floating point horsepower. A measure of the extraordinary processing power of RSX compared to current-generation game consoles is the numbers of transistors it will contain: 300 million. This is more than the total number of transistors in both the central processing units and the graphics processing units of the three leading current-generation systems, combined.

RSX will be manufactured at Sony Group's Nagasaki Fab2 as well as OTSS (joint fabrication facility of Toshiba and Sony).